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Nuts - Symphony for Old and New Dimensions

Stuart Kremsky, Cadence Magazine

This cross-generational gathering of musicians from France (bassist
Duboc and drummer Lasserre), Japan (trumpeter Oki and drummer Sato), and
the U.S. (trumpeter Siddik), instigated by Duboc, concocts a pair of
free-flowing improvisations that are broadly predictable in form but
utterly new in detail. To some extent, the shapes of the two long pieces
are determined by the double trumpet/double drums/bass lineup, which
makes call-and-response patterns practically inevitable in the on-stage
setting. Just as naturally, Duboc’s assertive bass becomes the fulcrum
of the energy movements that define this music. Add in the natural ebb
and flow of encounters such as this, and the overall contours
practically define themselves. At first, everyone cautiously tests the
waters, and slowly the momentum builds as the players begin to engage
one another more directly. The second piece, also typically, starts out
in the same territory where the opener ends up. Strategies are refined,
and a collective sense of determined purpose becomes clear. Siddik and
Oki, the veterans of the band, both tend to be discursive players, given
to atmospheric sounds and a conversational style of soloing. Neither
man is given to blowing hard, which gives the session the feel of Free
chamber music. They’re all listening closely, keeping the music going
with nothing really to fall back on except their own resources, so it
isn’t too much to ask their audience to listen just as hard. Not
everything works out, and the band gets bogged down midway through the
second movement during an unfocused passage centering on Oki’s flute and
Siddik’s “objects,” but the drummers lead the way out of the morass and
back into the light. It’s not a date that I would call essential, but
it’s strong and provocative music, well worth hearing by Free Jazz fans.